Field of the Disclosure
The present disclosure relates to food processing machines and methods, and more particularly to a machine for preparing and dispensing edible frozen product and a method for making food products using the machine.
Background of the Disclosure
Machines are known for processing and dispensing frozen dessert product such as soft-serve ice-cream and yogurt. Machines commonly used at retail establishments include a refrigerated chamber into which dessert mix is fed or pumped from a bucket or hopper. Blades or beaters churn the dessert mix to a desired consistency and the dessert mix is dispensed from a gravity-fed, manually-operated tap and allowed to flow into an open top cup or cone.
A different type of machine is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,957,040 entitled “Continuously Operational High Volume Frozen Confection Dispensing Machine”, issued on Sep. 28, 1999; U.S. Pat. No. 5,400,614 entitled “Frozen Dessert Apparatus”, issued on Mar. 28, 1995; U.S. Pat. No. 6,325,250 entitled “Continuously Operational High Volume Frozen Confection Dispensing Machine”, issued on Dec. 4, 2001; U.S. Pat. No. 6,485,768 entitled “Method of Preparing Frozen Confections”, issued on Nov. 26, 2003; and U.S. Pat. No. 6,723,361 entitled “Continuously Operational High Volume Frozen Confection Dispensing Machine”, issued on Apr. 20, 2004, all to the present inventor, and all incorporated by reference in their entirety, wherein an injection system is provided for extruding a selectable, predetermined volume of dessert mix. Further, the disclosed machine includes an injection nozzle that permits the dessert mix to be deposited within or injected into other than open containers or cones, such as into baked goods or other edible items.
Although the above referenced machines represent a significant departure from the known soft-serve ice-cream machines, they, like their predecessors, can be tedious and potentially unsanitary to operate and to clean. More specifically, known ice-cream machines must be very carefully cleaned as they process easily spoiled dairy products. Because known machines cannot retain usable dessert mix for an extended inactive period, not only does this waste dessert mix, but the known manual cleaning techniques are often incompletely or improperly performed by workers at the end of their shift. Further, refilling and restarting the machine can be tedious; and often the first batches of product produced are inconsistent and substandard in quality.
In view of these and other deficiencies of known machines, it would be desirable to reduce the frequency of filling, emptying and cleaning the machines; and when these procedures are accomplished, it would be preferable from a safety and quality standpoint to automate these procedures to the greatest extent possible. Further, it would be desirable to preserve dessert mix during extended inactive periods of operation.
Yet another shortcoming of existing machines is the inability to accurately dispense no more or less than a predetermined confection amount for a wide range of products. Further, existing machines do not provide usage and production detail that would be helpful in inventory controls, determination of shrinkage, and cost or royalty accounting.